Israel National Roads Company Ltd. has paved Israel's first eco-friendly road, using rubber to pave a 1.1-kilometer section of Road 85 east of Carmiel. The road runs between Acre on the west and Amiad on the east in the Galilee.
The section was paved with an experimental blend of asphalt and rubber pellets from ground-up used tires.
The cost of the raw material and the paving of the section is estimated at NIS 300,000, about the cost of regular road, but the rubber blend will increase the lifespan of the road by one-third. The rubber-asphalt blend is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
1,900 used tires were used to pave the section, which has been defined as "experimental". The rubber accounts for 3% of the asphalt blend, but the quantity of rubber could be doubled in future, which would result in the use of almost 4,000 used tires per kilometer of road.
National Roads Company R&D Branch director Adrian Valentin Cotrus said that the road was paved using know-how and experience accumulated in the US and adapted to Israel's standards and climate.
The Ministry of Transport said that three million tires were taken out of service in Israel each year, and that millions of tires were scattered at various sites, constituting environmental hazards.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 29, 2010
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